Harlem Globetrotter Anthony "Buckets" Blakes on basketball, bullying

Anthony "Buckets" Blakes has played for the Harlem Globetrotters for a dozen years now, a reflection of the enduring staying power of one of basketball's oldest franchises.

"The business model is wholesome family entertainment," said Blakes.

"The Globetrotters have been able to sustain 88 consecutive seasons because you can come to our game and see a 7 year old, you can see (his) mid-30 to 40-year-old parents and 70-year-old grandparents all sitting right by each other," he said. "And that's tough to do these days."

Raised in Arizona in a family of 10 — five brothers and four sisters — Blakes said coming from a big family helped prepare him to play team sports. Not to mention deal with bullying from older brothers.

Blakes visited the YMCA on Habersham this week to present an anti-bullying lesson to elementary school children, part of the Globetrotter's outreach program.

"We partner with the National Campaign to Stop Violence to put this program together because bullying has become such a big issue in the last four or five years," he said.

Blakes said last year the Globetrotters visited 420 schools, this year they're on track to reach 450.

Using volunteers, Blakes emphasized the need for kids to be compassionate to one another. Asking one boy how he would be nice to someone who had been picked on, the little boy answered that he would get him a glass of warm milk.

"That's the best answer I've ever heard," Blakes told the boy.

Blakes said the most challenging part of the job is knowing when to be comical and then knowing when to play serious ball.

"That's the toughest part of being a Globetrotter, is being able to turn it on and turn it off," said Blakes, adding that the tricks come in time. "The more you practice, the easier the tricks become."

Like other Globetrotters, Blakes has played professionally for years. At the University of Wyoming, where he played from '97 to 2000, he scored 20 points and 17 rebounds in one game, setting a team record he recalls to this day.

"I lead my team in rebounds my junior year in college and I'm a 'small guy' on the court," said Blakes. "To lead your team in rebounds as a guard is very, very rare."

Blakes later played international ball in Cyprus and Finland. He was discovered by a scout while playing overseas — yes, the Globetrotters have scouts — and began the third phase of his basketball career.

Asked if he knew how a player becomes a Washington General — the always losing team that plays the Globetrotters — Blakes says he has "no clue how that process works." Even off the court, the rivalry is palpable.

Globetrotters hit the Civic Center arena this Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m.